No More Hiding
by Devil'sDaughter8260
Summary: Percy has a secret and no one but his family knows. When his secret starts to cause problems for him in his day to day life people notice. He just wanted to get on with his life, but Chiari has a different idea and it seems to be winning the battle despite his best efforts.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey guys, so I was having a really rough day and honestly there are little to no fics that actually talk about this. So my need to vent without judgment lead me to write this fic, or at least start it. As you are all well aware by now, the writers on this site do not own the characters or story lines you recognise as being a part of a fandom and I am making no money off of this fic. Please read, enjoy and review to give me an idea of what you would like to see and I will do my best to comply.

Chapter One

Percy was exhausted. He had tired of fighting and hiding it every day. He didn't want anyone to know but at the same time, he didn't want them to be mad if they found out. He was pretty sure Annabeth had caught on, and oddly enough Jason. They didn't know exactly what was going on though. There was no way they could, but Percy was pretty sure that he had seen them watching him when he started to feel bad. Besides whose mind jumped to this when they saw a headache, or a paler than normal complexion. He would be surprised if they had ever even heard of it.

He was in his cabin, laying in bed, when she came to get him. The door closed with a spare towel pressed against the crack along the bottom to block out more light. His curtains acted as blackout curtains keeping all the sunlight out of his cabin. He has his face pressed into the pillow with light blanket pulled up over his shoulders as he tried to sleep. He heard the knock first, then her voice.

"Percy, are you okay? You've been in there all morning and you didn't even come to breakfast." _She is worried_ , he could tell from her tone. She was more than likely standing on his steps with her arms crossed over her chest while tapping her foot. _The tapping would only get faster the longer I made her wait._

He groaned to himself as he rolled over in bed, his head was pounding. He didn't want to get up at all, let alone to go do whatever activity the camp had decided was appropriate. "Yeah Annabeth, I'm fine just having a lazy day." He called back to her, the lie slipping easily from his tongue as it had so many times before. _No one ever questioned it so why change_.

When she answered the concern in her voice had changed to irritation. "Perseus Jackson, get out here now!" _Ow! Gods Annabeth, yell a little louder please. I don't think China heard you._ Her voice was high and sharp grating on his already sensitive hearing. "You have been having 'Lazy Days' for the last four days in a row." She jiggled the door knob trying to open the door. _Oh yeah, I locked it._

He sighs and tries to make his body obey the simple commands he wants to give it. _Sit up. Push the covers off. Stand up._ He had been doing good so far, but as soon as he stood the cabin spun around him like a broken merry-go-round. He dropped back into his bed with a quiet groan his arms resting on his knees and his face in his hands. _Damn, a little slower next time._ He takes a deep breath and clenches his jaw against the overwhelming urge to lay back down. _Note to self, no more racing Clarisse on the rock wall._ He stands again this time managing to stave off the dizziness long enough to walk to the door.

He stood with his head against the cool wood for a moment, trying to soothe the pounding. Despite knowing that nothing would help. At least nothing short of several hours of sleep and some high grade painkillers. He could hear her foot tapping now, a steady rhythm on the concrete steps. _Gods that is really going to bother me today._ He flicked the lock on the door wincing at the loud affirmation that it had disengaged. He steps back from it and turns the knob slightly, barely enough for it to crack open.

She is there in an instant. Her eyes searching his unnaturally pale face for any signs of injury. There were none of course, but this would only make her worry more. He steps away from her and slowly sits down on the edge of his bed again. "I'm okay. I just need some sleep" He soothes trying to calm her down the best he can.

Annabeth sighs and sits down beside him. "Percy I'm worried about you. You have always taken days off during the summer and spent them in here doing who knows what, but this year is different. You're in here more than you come out. It's not normal. You don't eat. Your eyes are always glassy. Like you want to be present, but mentally you are somewhere else. You've even lost your tan. Do you understand how hard it is for a greek demigod to lose a tan? Tan skin is literally in our genes." She goes on taking his hand in hers. " I'm … I just want to know what is going on. I want you to be okay."

His chest constricted as she spoke, thoughts racing through his mind at a nauseating speed. _I should tell her. I should tell them all. What? I can't tell her or anyone! I don't want the pitying looks. I don't want to be treated differently!_ He thoughts were so loud in his head he was sure he had actually said them. He looks over at his girlfriend, taking in the worried look on her face, the pale grey eyes that seemed to pierce his very soul, the firm set of her mouth showing that she wouldn't take no for an answer. "A….Wise Girl, I promise. I will be okay, but I can't tell you what is going on. I just can't." His voice cracks halfway through that last sentence. He wanted nothing more than to tell her, to have someone other than Paul and his mom know. To have someone there to help when it got to be too much for him to handle, But he couldn't.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Again guys I do not own anything you recognize and I am not making money off of this fic.

Chapter 2

Percy sighs and looks down, his hands fidgeting in his lap as he waited for her response. He just wanted to lay down. Not exactly sleep, but just rest. _Hopefully, it would help with this headache and the dizziness_. However, judging by the look on Annabeth's face, he didn't think that was going to happen.

She was frowning at him, her brow creased with worry. "Percy. If you are sick that's no reason to hide. We can handle that, but you have to actually tell us when something is wrong." She had sat down next to him on the bed and leaned over to him. Her hand snaked up between them as she presses her palm to his forehead, then his cheek as she checks for a fever. He wasn't running one but her cold hands felt good on his face.

He sighs and pulls away from her hand, "I'm not sick." He says softly as he lays down in his bed again. "It's not something you can fix." He says pulling his covers up again. "I'll be fine, I'm just gonna sleep for a little more."

"Percy you can't just sleep all day. You need to get up and eat." She nudges him a little as he closes his eyes.

He shook his head. Not wanting to get up or even look up at her. "I don't want to." He mutters stubbornly causing her to frown and stand up.

"Percy,... I'll bring you some food later. If you are still like this tomorrow you are going to the infirmary." She relents as she walks to the door and leaves.

He slips out of bed and locks the door after her pushing the towel back against the door. He goes back to bed and slowly gives in to the urge to sleep. Not waking until early the next morning. Percy wakes up and sighs relishing in the fact that he wasn't in pain. After almost a week of being too tired and in too much pain to leave his bed being able to stand up without feeling like he was getting hit by a bus is the best feeling in the world.

He had missed Annabeth coming by the night before and was sure to get a lecture but at his point it was worth it. He stands up and stretches before going to get in the shower. He stays in the water for a few almost an hour letting it relax and loosen up his stiff muscles. He gets dressed and walks back to his bed, pulling open the top drawer of his nightstand. He pulls out 3 pill bottles and takes one of each of them before walking out of his cabin. He heads towards the dining pavilion, hoping that it will be almost empty this early in the morning.

For once in his life he lucked out. The pavillion only had a few of the Hermes campers in it. Percy quickly made a plate and sat down to eat. He was about a quarter of the way through his meal before he was bombarded. Annabeth sat down on one side while Jason claimed the seat on his other side. He swallowed thickly and looks between the two of them. " Hey, " he mumbles knowing he is in for it now.

Annabeth looks at him. "Hey? That's all we get after you locked us out of your cabin. We were trying to help you Percy. You aren't acting right and we need to know what is going on." He sighs and looks down pushing his plate away, his appetite suddenly gone.

"We went over this last night. I am not sick. I just needed a few days to relax." He sighs. " Look, just let it go. Please. I'm fine now so lets just enjoy the day and if I have a problem I will go see Will and deal with it." He offers looking at his girlfriend and then his friend. "Deal?"

They both nod and he stands up leaving his plate where it is. He turns and walks to the dock kicking his sneakers off. He sits down and takes his socks off and puts his feet in the water. He laid back on the dock staring straight up at the sky. _I'm going to have to tell them. They won't let it go if I don't, but if I tell them then they won't leave me alone. They won't look at me the same way. They will treat me like I'm a piece of china._ He closes his eyes and sits there until the rest of the camp wakes up and eats breakfast.

Once the other cabins began their activities for the day he stood up and put his socks and shoes back on before crossing the camp heading towards the amphitheater. Once there, he sets the automated dummies that Leo made to attack him. He draws his sword and changes his watch into his shield before yelling the activation word.

The machines come at him like bats out of Hell. His sword flashes back and forth blocking and landing blows. The dummies respond in kind, delivering blow after blow, the ones his sword doesn't catch his shield does. He fights the dummies for hours ignoring his aching muscles from the repeated jarring blows.

Jason had followed him into the amphitheater and was sitting in the shade watching him. He and Annabeth were worried that he had only come out of his cabin to convince them that he was okay. He had relaxed after seeing percy go at his sword training with the same fervor that he usually did.

Percy bit his lip, his headache was coming back, _I'm going to have to stop soon. My hands are getting numb_. He focused back on this fight. _Just need to disable one of them then I'll call it._ He forces his hands to grip his sword tighter and keeps going hacking away at the machines. Just as he is about to deliver the ending blow to one of the dummies a wave of pain shoots through his body. He yelps a little in surprise having not expected it. His hand cramps and his sword falls to the ground with a loud clatter and he just manages to get his shield up in time to block the next blow from the dummies. His mind races as his hand refuses to cooperate.

The blows force him back across the sparring field. His back was almost to the wall when a voice above him calls off the attack "Pafsi!" The dummies stop almost immediately and percy sags back against the wall sliding down it so he is sitting. He recognised Jason's voice and his mind was already working on ways to pass this off as nothing serious.

Jason was at his side the second the machines backed off, kneeling beside him. " Percy what is going on? You never drop your sword" He quickly searched the son of Poseidon for injuries.

Percy jolted looking up at Jason. "I'm…" He sighs. "I'm not going to lie anymore and say I'm okay. I just need you guys to trust me when I say I can handle it. There is nothing that you can do to fix this." He forces himself up off the ground and brushes the dirt off his jeans. He starts to walk away but Jason frowns and grabs his arm, the one that went numb. Percy, unable to feel it, didn't stop and turn until the hold kept him from moving away. He turns toward Jason. "Please just let it go."

Jason frowns and shakes his head. "Percy, your arm is numb, you dropped your sword. What if that had happened in battle. You could have been killed. I can't let this go. I need you to get better. For everyone's sake."

Percy jerked his arm free and started to walk again, his head was pounding and he knew he needed to go back to his cabin and take his pills. His was late taking them already the rolling in his stomach was just an added confirmation. "Jason, please. I need to go." He says softly his voice almost pleading. His face was pale and he was fighting the urge to throw up, knowing that they would never believe that he was okay if he started puking up his guts.

Jason's face falters and his grip loosens and his arm falls to his side. He quickly takes in the pale skin tone and raspy voice. " What do you need?" he asks knowing the look of someone who feels utterly like crap.

"Pills. In my cabin" He mumbles starting to head that way. His jaw was clenched against the throbbing in his head and the overwhelming urge to vomit.

Jason nods, not saying anything as he follows percy to cabin 3. His mind was racing as he tried to come up with a reason that justified Percy's symptoms. As soon as they reached the door Percy pushed it open and stepped inside.

He walks over to his bed and pulls out a pill bottle glancing at the label briefly before popping the cap and taking two of them. He swallows them down quickly and sits on his bed trying to relax. "I'm sorry" He mumbles rubbing his temples as he waits for the medication to kick in. He sighs softly and lays back flat on the bed. " I didn't want you guys to worry. It's not normally this bad."

Jason sighs and sits next to him and frowns "What is it?" he asks " You can't beat around the bush any more. I know something is up and I know that it is getting worse." He looks down at the brunette and sighs "Will you tell me if I swear not to tell anyone? Well I won't tell anyone unless you suddenly get worse or something happens."

Percy looks up at him. "Jason, I need….can I just rest for a little while? Please I'll talk to you when my head doesn't feel like there is a cannon battering against my skull like the walls of a fortress." His voice was hoarse and his eyes glassy. "Just give me 30 to 40 minutes please." He asks, smiling faintly when Jason nods. Percy closes his eyes and falls silent, he slips off to sleep after about 15 minutes and Jason sighs. His eyes fall on the bottle on Percy's nightstand.

An idea sparks in his mind and he picks one up and pulls out the phones Leo had modified for them. He looks at the names and googles them, looking for diseases that they are used to treat. Topamax, Naproxen, Amitriptyline, and Acetaminophen. He writes down the list of the diseases and crosses off the ones that don't match until he got down to a list of 4 conditions. Arthritis, Cerebral Palsy, Migraines, and something called Chiari Malformation. Then he googled the symptoms of each one and crossed off all of them except Chiari Malformation. _What the hell is that?_ He sighs, this just raised more and more questions.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey I'm back. I don't own the fandom and I'm making no money on this fic. So far the chapters have been pretty short but hopefully they get longer. In the last chapter Jason figured it out. Now we will have to see how he reacts.

Chapter 3

Percy woke up about an hour later, his head not hurting as much and the nausea was gone. He looks around his room, surprised when he sees Jason sitting across the room on the spare bed. There was papers strewn all around him. He has a pen in one hand and his phone in the other. He scrolls through something on his phone and writes something down periodically on the paper beside him. "J-jason?" He mumbles still in the process of waking up.

The blonde jolts and looks up. "Hey, how are you feeling? Do you need a drink or something?" He asks turning off his phone and moving back over to Percy's side.

Percy sighs "Jason, I'm fine." He says sitting up and looking at his phone. With a small groan he picks up two of the pill bottles and takes one from each bottle. "What are you still doing here and what's with all the papers?" He asks curiously.

Jason sighs. "I was doing some research. I googled your medication. Out of the conditions that they were all prescribed for only one fit your symptoms." He says looking at the son of Poseidon.

Percy cuts in and frowns. "Chiari Malformation. Specifically type 2." His voice was hard and slightly irritated. Jason frowns a little but nods.  
"I did a bunch of research while you were sleeping, but I couldn't find a definition that I actually understood." He looks at you, "What is it and what is the differences of the types?" He frowns a little. "The symptoms are so varied, which ones do you get and how often?" He asks worry clearly written on his face.

Percy frowns, "Take a breath. I can't keep up with that many questions." He sits and up and grabs a bottle of water. " Chiari is basically your skull not being big enough for your brain. In order for your brain to have the space it needs it pushes through the opening for your spine. This blocks the flow of CSF and can cause neurological problems. The types refer to how far the brain extends into the spinal column. There are 4 types. Type 1 rarely exhibits symptoms past the headaches. Type 2 usually comes with more symptoms. Type 3 usually has syringomyelia or other related conditions. Type 4 is extremely rare and they usually don't survive childhood." He takes a deep breath and stretches a little rolling his shoulders.

Jason frowns hearing this. "So what symptoms do you get?" He asks worriedly. "I know you get headaches and judging from what happened in the amphitheater you have numbness and vision issues."

Percy nods. "The headaches are caused by the buildup of CSF pressure. The increased pressure causes your brain to either over react like with my vision or for it to shut down like my hands going numb. I also have trouble swallowing and talking occasionally when I have a headache, hence me not wanting to eat. Dizziness and nausea come together for the most part. The thing that scares people the most is that my heart doesn't beat as fast as it should." He looks down at his lap and fidgets with his fingers. "I usually don't deal with them every day this past week has just been really tiring and I wasn't thinking and tired myself out. I usually get about 1 bad day a week." He answers leaning back against the pillows.

Jason frowns and moves over to his side. He stays silent for a few minutes. "How do you deal with it? Does anyone know about it?" He asks looking down at his friend, who was laying in bed trying to make himself look as small as he possibly could. "Percy, this doesn't change who you are. It just means that sometimes you are going to be a little out of it and we, as your friends, are going to be there to help you." He says knowing that Percy was worried about the gang treating him differently.

There is a knock on the door of the cabin and a familiar voice filters through the door. "Percy? Jason? We need you out here. The Stolls told me you were in here." Hazel calls opening the door. " We have a new quest."

Percy looks up and sits up in his bed. " Alright Hazel, we will be there in a minute. Where are we meeting?" He asks taking a drink and subtly hiding the pill bottles from sight.

"The Big House in 15 minutes. I have to go find Annabeth and Piper." She says softly giving them both a smile before turning and walking away to go find their other friends.

Jason sighs and starts to get up to leave but stops as Percy grabs his arm. "You can't tell anyone about the Chiari. Please." He almost begs his voice cracking as he worries about everyone finding out and not letting him do the same things that he has always done.

Jason nods, "Alright, I won't tell but if someone figures it out or you put yourself in danger then I'm going to tell them." The brunette agrees and Jason smiles a little pulling away and walking out.

Percy sighs and puts all the pill bottles up and standing up before following Jason out of the cabin and heading towards The Big House. _I really don't feel like dealing with this today._ He sighs and runs his hands through his hair as he walk across the camp. Once he gets there he walks to the conference room and sits down in one of the chairs around the ping pong table.

Jason and Piper were already there as well as Nico and Hazel. He sits down ignoring the look on Jason's face as he grabs a bottle of water. "Who are we still waiting on?" he asks taking a drink.

Nico looks up from his phone. "Will, Annabeth, Frank, Leo and Calypso," he responds. Slowly the others trickle in except for will. Nico frowns at his phone. "Will is stuck in the infirmary. He says to start without him. I'll catch him up later."

Chiron who had come in during this statement sits himself at the head of the table. "You all fought very well during the war and some of you during the first war and for that you deserve to be rewarded. The problem here is that they couldn't decide how to reward you. They debated between favors or giving you powers for a while and they finally settled on finally allowing Mr. D and I to retire. They are going to combine both camps and you 12 will be in charge of running it." He says looking at each of them.

Percy frowns. "Chiron you said 12, but there are only 9 of us here. 10 with Will. Who are the other two?" He asks a confused look on his face.

"The others will be Reyna and Thalia. Together you represent most of the major gods in the pantheon and a few minor ones. The new camp is in the mountains of North Dakota and will be ready within a week. You will have full freedom to run the camp as you see fit. However, they also realized that you will need time to adjust to the idea and to figure out amongst yourselves how you want to run it. So to provide for this Lord Hephaestus Has rebuilt the Argo II and you will all spend the rest of the summer traveling the world and planning. During this time you are free to go or do as you please." He sighs, " I do not envy you this job, but I know you will exceed our expectations. Reyna and Thalia will be here before the night is out. Mr. D and I will stay on here through the summer and the the school year while you all graduate and then we will turn everything over to you at the beginning of next summer. I suggest you now return to your cabins. Call your parents if you feel it's necessary and pack for your trip you leave the day after tomorrow." He says before leaving the room.

Percy frowns and takes a drink from his water bottle. "Dam, this is either going to be great or epically suck." he mutters frowning and trying to wrap his head around it. "I'm gonna go call my mom. I'll talk to you guys later." He says standing up and walking out of the room, the rest quickly follow him splitting up and walking out of The Big House and going their separate ways.

Percy walks to his cabin and sits down on his bed. _This is going to make it almost impossible to hide the Chiari. We are going to be on that ship together for the next 3 months._ He sighs and lays down, pulling out his phone and calling Sally.

In cabin 1 Jason is sitting with Piper as she talked to her dad on the phone. He had all of his stuff packed up already, being in the Legion for so long had taught him that he should travel light and always be ready to move at a moments notice, because of this he practically loved out of a duffle bag that was ready to go at any time. The only thing that he actually ever had to pack was his toiletries He leans back on his bed and sighs softly. He was worried about Percy and how all this stress was going to affect him but he knew that he he couldn't draw attention to it without making it worse for him.

Annabeth came and knocked on the cabin door, surprised when it swung open since Percy normally kept it locked. "Percy? Are you okay?" she asks as she steps into the cabin. She had packed most of her stuff up but hadn't felt the need to call her father, not really caring what he had to say. She sees him lying on the bed and smiles faintly sitting down next to him.

He looks up at her and smiles back. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just got off the phone with mom. She isn't happy about the idea that we will be so busy. We are gonna have to take night classes according to her." He sits up a little and kisses her cheek. "I'm sorry for how I've been acting lately. I want to tell you about what is going on, but I need to figure out what the best way to do it. But I promise that I will tell you." He smiles a little. "Besides, it has to be better than how Jason found out." He says the last part quietly, not thinking that she would be able to hear him.

Annabeth rounds on him in an instant. She had been ready to agree with him until she heard his last statement. "What?! Jason knows but you won't tell me?!" He flinches away from her yelling not wanting it to trigger another headache so soon after he had gotten rid of one. She notices the flinch and remembers that he obviously hadn't been feeling well the last few days. She takes a deep breath and sighs, "Percy, I don't want to push you to tell me if you aren't ready, but it hurts me to know that you trust Jason more than me." She says starting to get up to leave.

Percy frowns and grabs her arms stopping her from leaving. "Annabeth, I didn't tell him. He found out on his own. Once he did I explained it to him so he wouldn't jump to the worst case scenario." He sighs, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Can you give me until tomorrow morning to figure out how to explain it to you?" he asks, his voice pleading and laced with worry.

She sighs and nods. " Tomorrow morning you have until after breakfast and then we are going to talk about this. You never hide things from me and I'm worried about how this is affecting you and affecting us." He nods and lets go of her arm.

"I love you, Wise Girl. Never forget that." He says as she turns and walks to the door.

She pause at the door, "I love you too Seaweed Brain." A small smile crosses her face as she turns and leaves the cabin.

He sighs and lays back down and sighs. His phone rings and he frowns and picks it up looking at the text from his mom

Mom: Hey, if you are leaving you need to see your doctor tomorrow.

Percy: Mom, you know I hate going to see him.

Mom: I don't care Percy. You went for a year before and look at how bad it has gotten since then. Either you go on your own or I will show up at camp and drag you there myself.

Percy: Ughh… Fine. I'll go but don't expect me to be happy about it.

Mom: I love you Perce. Be safe and stop by before you head back to camp. And make sure someone goes with you, you know how you are after an appointment.

Percy: I love you too mom. I'll see you tomorrow.

He sighs and puts his phone down and quickly packs up most of his stuff. He sighs and picks up his phone and texts Chiron letting him know that he will have to leave camp tomorrow and that Annabeth and probably Jason will more than likely be going with him. After receiving a text in the affirmative Percy sighs and lays down in bed not bothering to to undress. _I'll ask them to go with me tomorrow after I talk to Annabeth._


	4. Chapter 4

AN: You know the drill. I don't own anything you recognise and I'm am making no money on this. So far my chapters have been short between 1K and 2K words. I'm thinking of writing linger ones but that would mean that they don't get posted as frequently. Let me know which you prefer, and as always, read, enjoy and review. I love hearing feedback from you guys.

Chapter 4

Percy woke up early the next morning and stretched in bed. His bed was warm and comforting, like a cacoon against the irritations that the day would bring. He sat up slowly taking a deep breath and leaning over to his nightstand for the bottle of water. After a few minutes he sighs and stands up, going to get a shower.

About ten minutes later a curse resounded from the bathroom and was sure to be heard across the camp. _I have to tell Annabeth today, and go to the doctors. I just can't win._ After that thought crossed through his mind he slowed down considerably, wanting to put it off as long as he could.

An hour later percy was sitting down at his table picking at his food knowing it wasn't a good idea for him to eat a whole bunch right not despite how hungry he was. Halfway through his meager breakfast Annabeth sat down next to him like she did every morning. "Morning Seaweed Brain." she says eating a piece of bacon off her own plate. "Is that all you're eating this morning? You didn't even get pancakes." She comments getting a little worried since it was his favorite breakfast.

He nods a little and pushes what's left of his food around on his plate. "Yeah, I've got to go to an appointment later and I don't want to make myself sick." He says taking drink.

She frowns but doesn't say anything knowing he has a little more time before he promised to tell her what's going on. "Why would it make you sick?"

"They have to run tests today and they usually cause an anxiety attack. If I eat a bunch then when that happens I'll make myself sick and it's not a pleasant experience." He sighs a little. "Are you done eating?" He asks pushing his plate away.

She nods a little and turns to face him. "You know what it means if I say yes?" She asks taking his hand, he nods looking her in the eyes. "Then yes, I'm done." He gives her a small smile as he takes a deep breath.

"Lets go to the docks. I don't want people to overhear us." he says standing up taking a bottle of water with him. Annabeth follows behind him, a worried look on her face.

Once they got to the docks she kicked her sneakers off and sat down, her toes dragging in the water as she waits for Percy to start talking. She had been trying to piece together what could be wrong with him for a week or more. She hadn't thought much about it before now. But since the war had ended he had gotten worse. It seemed like he had more 'Lazy Days' than he did normal days and it scared her. No matter how much she prayed that it was something else the symptoms just kept leading her back to cancer. It seemed like the only thing had could fit. She had even asked will what it could be, she hadn't brought up Percy specifically but he even thought it sounded like cancer. She just prayed she was wrong.

Percy sat down on the dock beside her and pulls her into a gentle kiss. "What are you thinking about? You have that pensive look on your face? Like you are working on a problem but the answer is just off from your solution."

She smiles and kisses him back, ber hands sliding up his arms to rest around his neck. She pulls away as she speaks a faint ghost of a smile still on her lips. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about this last week or so." She sighs a little and leans against his side. "You really do have me scared."

He nods and holds her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. "I know and I'm sorry. You ready for me to explain?" he asks softly laying his head on hers. She nods and he takes a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of Chiari Malformation?" She shakes her head turning to look at him. " It is when your brain doesn't fit in your skull properly. It hangs down in your spinal column and puts pressure on your spine. So the buildup of CSF pressure causes headaches and numbness. Sometimes I have vision problems from it,"he explains.

Annabeth had tensed up halfway through his first sentence, and had yet to relax. Now he was worried. "Annabeth, say something. Please" he says worriedly and she turns her to look at him.

Her face was full of fear as she looked up at him. "What does that mean for you? When did you find out? Why is it so bad all of the sudden?" She rattles off questions as she hugs him tightly. "Is it going to get worse? What are the treatments for it? Is there a cure?" Her face was buried in his chest by the end of her interrogation, tears ran down her cheeks as he waits for him to answer her.

He kisses her head and rubs her back, trying to calm her down some. _She normally isn't this emotional. She must have really been worried_. He sighs and holds her tightly. " I'm gonna go in the order you asked them okay?" After receiving a nod her takes a deep breath. "It acts like a brain tumor. Meaning I have good days were you can't tell anything is wrong and I have bad days where I wake up in so much pain that the thought of getting out of bed hurts. I was diagnosed when I was 8, and it got worse because for the last year during the war i was off my medication and I didn't do anything to prevent it. Now that year is catching up to me." He stops to let her process all the information.

After a few minutes She looks up at him. "I asked more questions than that," she mumbles looking up at him again. "K-keep going. Please."

He nods and thinks back to her questions. "It is more than likely going to get worse later on down the road. I am on medication to help manage it right now. There is no cure so the treatments for it are either brain surgery which has a very low chance of actually helping the problem. It doesn't fix it, it just makes it more manageable, if it works. But there is no guarantee. The other option is what I am doing now, which is medicating the symptoms and keeping them at bay that way." He explains as he finishes answering her questions. "Did you want to ask anything else?"

Her face was streaked from tears and her breathing was hitching on each inhale. She shakes her head and cuddles up to him. "N-no." She mumbles and he sighs softly and holds her close to him. He could feel her body shaking as she tried not to full out cry. "I don't know what to say. Why didn't you ever tell me?" She asks looking up at him finally after almost 10 minutes.

" I didn't tell anyone. Only Mom, Paul, and my doctors knew. It always makes people act weird, like I'm made of glass and I'm going to break. I don't want to be treated differently. I'm different but I don't need pity and I hate other people worrying about me. I'm just sorry I let you worry for so long." He says almost ashamedly. " I really am sorry Wise girl."

She nods and kisses him lightly, relishing in the taste of the sea that always seemed to cling to his skin. "It's alright. I forgive you." she mumbles. Now tell me about this appointment you have to go to later." she says worriedly, not forgetting how he was acting during breakfast.

He looks down at her. "I have to go see my neurologist and the neurosurgeon. Mom made me an appointment so they can make sure there isn't anything majorly wrong before we leave. I'll go again at the end of the summer and every 3 months for the rest of my life." He kisses her head. "Honestly I was going to ask you if you wanted to go with me. Chiron already gave me the okay to leave for a few hours. It's up to you if you go or not. I won't force you." He says looking at her.

She looks up at him, surprised at the offer since he had gone to such lengths to avoid telling her anything just the day before. "What exactly does it entail? Like whats going to happen and why do you need someone to go with you?" She asks getting worried again as the word neurosurgeon registers in her mind.

"I have to get an MRI and blood work done, and then it's just a general check up. The problem is the MRI. I'm claustrophobic so it kinda freaks me out. The doctors always end up giving me something to keep me relaxed and after that i'm not allowed to drive, so my mom always makes sure someone goes with me so I don't have to stay." He looks away from her. "If you don't want to go it's fine, mom will come get me and drive me back here."

She shakes her head, "No, I want to go. If you need someone to be there then I will be there," she says determinedly as she hugs him. "What time do you...we have to leave?" She asks amending her sentence halfway through it.

"Just after lunch," he answers looking down at her. "Are you okay?" he was a little worried about her, she was barely reacting to anything he said. _If she is still like this around lunch I'm gonna take her to see Will. I think she is in shock._

They sat there like that for a little while as Annabeth processed all the information she had been bombarded with this morning. Percy was just worried that she would start to treat him like he couldn't do anything, like he was too weak to live his life the way he wanted. He sighs, _Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it now._ He slowly extracts himself from her arms and helps her up. "Come on Wise Girl. You have a Greek lesson to teach," he says walking her towards the building.

After dropping her off there he heads to cabin 1 wanting to talk to Jason about going with him as well this afternoon. He knocks on the door to the cabin and waits for a moment. After a minutes Jason responds, "Come on in." He calls out to you through the heavy marble door.

Percy pushes it open and steps inside. "Hey, I haven't seen you all morning. What are you up to in here?" He asks looking around at the cabin noticing how bare everything was. " It looks like it did before Thalia came back in here." He comments quietly.

Jason was sitting on the bed running his hand through Piper's hair as she slept. Her head was on his leg, using it as a pillow. "What's up Percy?" he asks smiling up at you. " And yeah, I wasn't sure when we would be coming back here and I didn't want to lose anything or leave it behind."

"Yeah I get that. I did pretty much the same thing. I came in here to ask if you would help me with something this afternoon."

" That depends on what it is. I am not going to help you do something stupid and get yourself hurt but if it is important you know I will help." he responds curiously, " Have you told Annabeth yet? She came over here last night and flipped out."

Percy looks down a little embarrassed and sorry for how she acted. "Yeah, I told her after breakfast this morning and she is still processing it. Sorry about her coming over here." He sighs, "I have to go to the doctors this afternoon and she is supposed to go with me but i won't be able to drive back and I'm not sure how she will be. She is kinda in a state of shock right now so I was wondering.." He pauses and runs his fingers through his hair. "I was wondering if you would go too just in case she isn't able to drive either?" He looks at Jason a hopeful smile on his face. "Please?"

Jason smiles, " What is it with the guys in our group of friends and needing big brother Jason to help them all the time?" He asks good naturedly as he plays with Piper's hair. "Yeah I'll go. Honestly I kinda want to know what your doctors say about this and how we can manage it over the course of the summer. How often do you go see them?"

" About every 3 months, except for last year. That's why it got so bad. When Hera took me, she didn't know about me needing the pills and I didn't have them for a whole year. I barely managed to hide the headaches from Hazel and Frank and I got one during a Praetor meeting and Reyna almost set her dogs on me." He admits with a small sheepish smile.

"I can't imagine lying and saying you are fine in front of those dogs would go over well, they barely tolerate me and I never lied to her." He looks down as Piper stirs in her sleep. "What time do we need to leave?" He asks a small smile on his face.

"After lunch, chiron is gonna let us borrow a car." He glances at Piper. "I'm gonna leave you alone before she wakes up. I'll see you later." He says walking over to the door. He stops at the door and turns. "And Jason?" The blonde looks up as Percy calls his name again. "Thanks for coming. I have a feeling I'm gonna need you there." He says before walking out of the door.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I'm so sorry I haven't posted a new chapter in a while. I just finished my first semester of college and it kicked my but a little harder than I had originally anticipated it would. As always I love hearing from you, so please enjoy the chapter, and leave a review.

Chapter 5

A few hours later Percy, Annabeth, and Jason were in the car with Percy driving and Annabeth sitting in the front seat. She held onto his hand and watched him. He seemed to be okay today he hadn't had a headache, or rather he hadn't admitted to one and it gave her hope. Hope, that this wasn't going to run his life that he could still go out and do everything that he wanted. She had worried non-stop all morning and barely let him out of her sight.

Percy was getting a little annoyed, Annabeth wouldn't leave him alone. So what, he had a neurological disorder, he wasn't dying. He took a deep breath and pulled up to the hospital, parking the car with a practiced ease. "Right on time." He says quietly as he rolls the windows up and gets out of the car.

Jason climbs out followed by Annabeth. "Percy do you know where we need to go?" Jason asked as he shut his door and stretched trying to work the kinks out of his muscles from sitting in the small back seat of the car.

Percy nodded and locked the doors to the car as he looks up at the building that had been the bane of his existence for the last ten years of his life. He takes a deep breath and walks up the sidewalk and into the building not bothering to stop at the information desk as he heads straight to the elevator.

Once all three of them were in he hits the button for the 3rd floor and leans against the railing, trying to stay calm as his anxiety rears its head. He hated riding the elevator but he knew the stairwells were locked and that once in them he wouldn't be able to get back into the hospital. The elevator starts moving with a sudden lurch as soon as the doors are closed and he grips the railing in an attempt to steady himself. He hands start to shake as he fights for control of his panic, his hands tighten on the railing leaving his knuckles pale white against the tan of his skin. He closed his eyes and bit his lip as his head spins. Not really noticing that the elevator had stopped and Jason was calling his name. His eyes open just as the doors did and he bolted form the confining prison-like space taking deep breaths to slowly calm himself down.

Annabeth stood there with her now almost customary worried frown, while Jason had a knowing look on his face as they both exited the elevator. He took one last deep breath and stood back up. His shoulders still tense and getting worse. He signed in at the desk and sank into a seat against the back wall where no one could come up behind him. Jason sat down on his right with Annabeth claiming the seat to his left, she twined her fingers in with his and leaned over kissing his cheek. " Are you okay?" She asks softly, not really understanding or able to fully comprehend what is going on.

Percy nods and starts to respond but stops as a nurse calls his name. He cursed under his breath as he stands up squaring his shoulders a little to hide the tension as he follows her into a back room. About 10 minutes later he comes back out. A piece of gauze taped to the inside of his elbow. He sits back down in the chair and sighs pulling out his phone and starting to play a game. His hands shook as he tried to distract himself from what was coming. He sighs after a few minutes and gives up, he puts his phone away in his pocket and closes his eyes leaning back in his seat.

Jason frowns and presses his fingers to the inside of Percy's wrist. "You need to take a deep breath and calm down, your heartbeat is racing, you're going to pass out at this rate." he said calmly, he kept his voice low not wanting to add to Percy's anxiety.

Percy looks back and forth between the two of you and slowly calms his breathing down. He sighs a little, his energy sapped for the time being as he lays his head on Annabeth's shoulder. "We have about 15 minutes until they call me back." He mumbles more to himself than to either of them.

Annabeth frowned a little and gently ran her fingers through his hair. She had never seen him act like this. It made her rethink how he acted during everything else they had been through, if things like this bothered him how had he gotten through all the other things they had done. She knew the answer but she wasn't exactly sure she wanted to. He had done it for her, he had put himself in positions where every nerve in his body must have been screaming at him to get out, for her sake, to make sure she was okay. The thought didn't sit well with her as they waited for the doctor to call his name, her own nerves starting to act up as she worried about him the more she thought about it.

The doctor calls his name and he tenses but stands up again. Jason stands up as Percy does but she doesn't move. "You guys go ahead I'll be right behind you….." she pauses trying to think of an excuse. "I need to use the bathroom." she mumbles after a moment.

Jason glares at her realising what is going on. "I'll text you the room number." he says not wanting to give her a way out of it.

Percy just nods, starting to panic too much to notice what is going on. He and Jason follow the doctor back into the exam room. The doctor runs him through the full neuro exam, checking his pupils and making him do the stupid little tests that show he doesn't have any nerve damage. He passes most of it except the part where they tested his hands. His breathing and heart rate were affected as well.

The doctor sends him to get an MRI and one of the nurses starts an IV in his arm before hanging a saline bag and injecting the sedative into it. He barely flinches when they do this showing just how used to it he is. Before long he is completely out cold and one of the nurses tells Jason to wait here for him in the room. They push his bed out of the room and Jason sits down to wait.

About an hour or so later the nurses bring him back into the room still asleep, Annabeth was nowhere in sight. She had never come back to the room despite jason sending her several text messages asking her if everything was okay. He knew she had bailed, he just wasn't sure how Percy was going to take it.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I just finished my first year of college and am finally home again. You know the whole disclaimer drill, so I won't bore you with it on another chapter. As always I appreciate you guys more than you know. So please read, review and enjoy.

Jason looked around at the hospital room they were sitting in. It had been a week and a half since Percy had his last doctor's appointment. Annabeth had been avoiding him and Percy the whole time, not even making eye contact at the head counselor meetings. So far she hadn't told anyone about what they had done when they left the camp, but Jason didn't trust her not to go rant to someone about it sooner or later.

He glanced at Percy sleeping in the hospital bed, they had just brought him back from his second MRI. Jason had only seen him go through it twice and already he knew that he couldn't stand seeing Percy like this. Watching him panic even before they told him that he would need another one. As soon as they got onto the hospital campus Percy had tensed up, his hands tightened into fists which he slid into his pockets to hide from view. He got jumped at every noise, as if it could be a monster around the corner waiting to attack him.

Percy groaned, beginning to wake up. Jason slid his phone into his pocket and focused his attention on the Sea Prince. "Hey Perce, how are you feeling?" He asked moving into the other demigod's line of sight.

Percy looked around still disoriented. "Jason?" He asked quietly, his eyes slowly focusing on the blonde demigod. He's began to sit up his mind slowly clearing so that he could focus. "Please tell me that they said we could leave now." He murmured the tone of his voice nearly begging.

Jason nodded and pressed the call button, "They said to call for a nurse or the doctor when you woke up so they could check you over before you were discharged."

Percy nodded and sat the bed up with the remote. "Good, I want to go back to camp." He said, heaving out a sigh as a doctor knocked on the glass panel next to the door to the room. "Come on in." He called, watching as the doctor slipped into the room.

"How are you feeling?" He asked stopping the flow of the I.V. medications and glanced at the monitors around the bed. A frown marred his face as he took in the uneven heart rate that was telegraphed across the screen.

"Its normal, they should have it marked in my medical files."

"Yes, of course. It's just, it's one thing to read about your arrhythmia, it's another thing completely to watch your heart actually skip beats and to only contract partially."

Jason frowned glancing at Percy then the monitors, "Is that a problem?"

"No, not really. It's still doing its job and his pulse ox is still within normal ranges." The doctor answered as he took the I.V. line out of Percy's arm. "Once you feel up to it you can go. I'll have the discharge papers sitting at the nurse's station for you. Take as long as you need. We will call you once the radiologist has had a chance to go over your scans." He takes the monitor leads off before nodding to both Percy and Jason as he stepped out of the room.

Jason turned his attention to percy who was in the process of swinging his legs off the bed. "You never told me it affected your heart rate." He said, anger and worry lacing his voice.

"It never came up. I'm fine. It's nothing serious, they would have done something about it if it was." He sighs, "You don't need to worry about it." He says taking off the scrub-like hospital clothes and pulling his T-shirt back over his head." Look, he shouldn't have said anything. Can we just go home? I still want to sleep and I won't be able to in the car."

The blonde frowned but stood up, grabbing the keys to the car as he did. "Yeah, let's go, but don't think that this conversation is over." He said as he walked out of the room with Percy, staying close after having seen Percy almost fall the last time he had left the hospital.

"Jason, I'm fine. Seriously dude stop worrying so much. You're gonna get gray hairs." Percy said as he signed the stack of papers at the desk. His normally quick and sloppy signature worse than normal as his hands shook.

Jason took a deep breath and did his best to wipe the worried look off his face, only partially succeeding. He merely nodded as he followed Percy out of the hospital and down to the parking lots. He coughed pointedly as Percy habitually walked to the driver side. "You are not driving Percy. You can barely keep your head up."

Percy frowned but walked to the other side. "Yeah yeah, I know I'm not allowed to drive." He mutters. The doctors had made that very clear the last time they had come. Jason hadn't even let him drive there today since he saw how worked up he had been.

They both climbed into the car and Jason started the engine, easily pulling out of the soot and navigating his way back onto the highway that would take the teens back to Camp Halfblood.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

AN: You know the drill; I don't own anything. As always, please enjoy and the more you review the more I will write. So, without further a due, the story.

Percy stood at the bow of the Argo as it launched itself away from the docks. His face gave nothing away, but thoughts raced though his mind.

Annabeth had never shown up to get on the boat. They had waited for over an hour for her, hoping that she was just running late or that an emergency had come up with on e of the other campers that she had felt the need to sort out herself. Yet, she had never showed. Eventually Chiron had just told them to leave without her and he would find her and send her later once he had gotten a chance to talk to her about what was going on. During the hour that they had been waiting for her Percy had sent her dozens of text messages and had received no response, though had didn't really surprise him at this point. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks, had even gone out of her way to avoid him.

He heaved out a sigh and turned to face the rest of the demigods that were still milling around the deck, some had already disappeared below deck to explore the new ship that Hephaestus had built for them.

When Percy and Jason had asked to delay the departure date, Leo and the god had decided to use the extra time to overhaul the boat yet again and redesign many of the features.

He couldn't help the ghost of a smile that crossed his face as he saw Jason and Nico standing off to one side of the deck talking. He and Jason had often talked about how they wished they could get the younger demigod to come out of his shell more often. As if they had sensed his gaze, they both looked up in his direction and Jason beckoned him over. He merely shook his head and nodded towards where Leo was standing at the wheel.

Leo looked up as he walked over, "Hey, what's up?" He asked as he punched a few buttons on the dash. His hands flying over keys seemingly of their own accord.

"Nothing really, I just came to see where we were heading first." He said giving up on trying to watch which buttons were beings pushed. If he needed to captain, the ship for some reason he would instinctually know how to do it but for now watching Leo's hand zoom around the control panels was beginning to make his head spin.

"I'm not really sure, I thought I would get us out to the ocean and then we could all decide on a first stop together. Any ideas? All I could come up with was the usual Greece and Rome and we have already been there."

He nodded a little, "Alright, I'm going to head down to my room, send them down if they need me," he said turning and opening the door to the stairs that lead down to the cabins that had been designed for each of the demigods.

He strode down the hallway taking note of which name was on what door and the order of them. On one side of the hallway was Frank, Piper, Hazel, Jason, and Nico. On the other was Calypso, Annabeth, Reyna, Leo, himself, and Will. It seemed that the gods were trying to split the couples up a little bit. Or at least make it a little harder for them to sneak into each other's rooms. A few of the doors were open as he passed by and he could see that either Leo or Hephaestus had decorated each room to the tastes of whichever demigod was going to be spending the summer in it. Percy himself had yet to even investigate his own room yet.

He opened the door and was surprised to see it looked more like his room at his mom's apartment than his cabin unlike the other demigod's rooms. The walls were painted a light sea green with white accents going around the whole room. A large flat screen TV was mounted on the wall and a fully equipped entertainment stand was up against the wall underneath it. He could see game controllers in one of the glass cabinets. A smile crossed his face as he sat down on the bed and pulled his bag up onto the mattress next to him.

He was halfway through unpacking his bag and putting his clothes away in the dresser when there was a knock at the door. He looked up as the door swung open and he saw Thalia standing there. "Uh, hey Thals. What's up?" He asked a little confused, she wasn't who he would have expected to have been there.

She smiled a little and stepped into the room a little hesitantly, "Hey, just coming to check in. I haven't been around a lot then when I get here for this trip, I heard that you and Jason wanted to postpone it and he won't tell me why, only that it's your business and I should ask you about it. So, I came to get you to tell me what was going on that has the two of you keeping secrets from the rest of us. And what's up with you and Annabeth?"

He paused a pair of jeans held in his hand as he had been about to put them in his drawer. "Look," he sighed, "I'm not trying to hide it from everyone… I mean I was for a while, but I know that if we are going to be doing this then I know you guys need to know. I didn't tell anyone before now because I didn't want it getting spread around camp and honestly, I was still dealing will some parts of it that I had to get under control before we could leave. Hence the delay in leaving."

She cut him off before he could speak again, "Percy every single word out of your mouth right now sounds rehearsed. What is going on? What aren't you telling me?"

He could tell from the tone of her voice how angry and scared she was getting even if she was doing her best to keep it off her face, though the twitching of her eyebrow and the hard set to her jaw was starting to give her away. "I'm going to tell everyone together later, that's the best I can give you right now Thalia, I just can't deal with the stress that it would involve to tell you everything now and then to tell everyone else later, I'm sorry." He says sitting back down on his bed taking a deep breath and running his hands through his hair to hide the shaking.

"You told Jason." She countered, not noticing anything in her frustration.

"I didn't tell him. Everyone assumes I told him, it's not my fault that he is smarter than people give him credit for, and he figured it out on his own. I only told one person and look where that got me, my girlfriend hates me." He mumbles

Thalia frowned when she realized what his last sentence meant, "You mean Annabeth? You told her and she took it badly?" She asked in a soft voice as she slipped across the room and sat down next to him.

He looked up at her. "Badly, is an understatement. She hasn't spoken to me in weeks. She left me. But honestly, I don't think I really care. I did nothing wrong. If she can't handle this then that's on her." He says a little determinedly as he mentally realized something, even if he wasn't quite ready to admit it just yet.


	8. Chapter 8

Percy walked into the meeting room on the ship. He was one of the last ones to get there, out of the people who were on the ship that was. Thalia, Reyna, Piper and Calypso were sitting at one end of the table talking quietly, Frank and Hazel where having a conversation about god's know what judging by the blush on Frank's face. Leo hadn't come in yet but Nico, Will, and Jason were sitting at the other end of the table with Jason and will arm wrestling and nico commentating on both sides.

Percy shook his head and sat down next to Nico, "How long have they been going at this?" He asked looking between the two blond demigods.

Nico smiled, "They are on the tie-breaker round. They have each won one round, so far it has lasted about 5 minutes."

Jason tightened his grip on the son of Apollo's hand and risked a glance at Percy, "Where have you been? We haven't seen you since we got on the ship." He grunted as he struggled to take back the ground that Will had gained while he was talking.

"I was in my room unpacking," he said simply. It wasn't a complete lie after Thalia had left he had began to get a headache and decided to lay down for about an hour and a half. "I also had a conversation with your sister. She wanted to know what was going on and why you wouldn't tell her, and she asked me what was going on with Annabeth."

"What?"Jason turned his head to look at the son of Posiedon losing his concentration causing him to curse loudly as both his and Will's hands went crashing into the table with a bang. "Ow! Damn Will." He winced and pulled his hand off the table rubbing the back of his hand and his knuckles.

Will frowned slipping into doctor mode almost immediately, took his hand and moved each of his fingers, feeling around the bones in his wrist. "Sorry, everything is alright though." He says sheepishly.

Percy chuckles and looks at Jason, "You lost, and I handled Thalia." He says leaning back in his chair shooting the blond a look that said he would tell him later.

Leo chose that moment to walk into the room, "Hey guys, everyone here? Good. Well let's get this started. First order of business, where do we want to go first?"

Reyna was the first one to respond, "Spain or Egypt?"

Frank looks up from his and Hazel's conversation, "I always thought it would be kinda cool to go to Japan."

Leo looked at him a little oddly, "Dude, don't take this the wrong way but I thought you were Chinese Canadian. Why Japan?"

"I want to go to the Imperial Palace," he says with a shrug.

Leo looked around the table. "The way I figure it, we have enough time to go to about 8 different places. spend a week in each place and that isn't counting the travel time between destinations. so we have three of them so far." He looks at Piper," Pick a country Beauty Queen, then the next victim."

"I don't know, India. Thalia you're next."

Thalia answered almost immediately, "Rio. Will, you're up."

"Moscow. You next Sunshine," He says earning him a glare from the son of Hades sitting next to him.

"Australia, and for the last one Jason you pick."

Jason frowns thinking for a moment, "Just to round out our trip, the Caribbean Islands." he said with a smile, earning him a few cheers from the other demigods around the tables at the thought of spending a week on the beaches.

Percy winced a little at the noise in the meeting room as they all talked, his headache was coming back and them all cheering the thought of a beach trip wasn't exactly helping. He arely stopped himself from reaching his hand up to rub his temples not wanting to open that can of worms right now, but apparently the fates hated him.

Jason chose that moment to glance over at him noticing how quiet he had been the whole meeting and saw the pained look on his face. He pulled his phone out under the table and sent the son of Posiedon a quick text.

Percy flinched as his phone buzzed in his pocket and pulled it out, doing his best not to drop it due to his hands shaking.

Jason: Hey, you okay?

Percy: Yeah. I'm good. Headache is coming back.

Jason frowned after reading the message.

Jason: You need to tell them soon, it's only going to be worse if you keep putting it off.

Percy: I know.

Percy looked up as he tuned back into the conversation to see Will and Thalia staring at him. "Why is everyone staring at me?" He asked looking around the table.

Thalia leans over to him, "Percy are you okay?"

"You look a little pale." Will said softly.

Percy frowned and began to. "Guys I'm fine." He says as he stands up from his seat, the sudden movement causing the room to spin. He put his hands on the table in front of him to steady himself and took a few small breaths to try and stave off the dizziness.

Will was at his side in a second. "Percy, sit down, what's wrong?" He asked guiding the other demigod into his chair. "And don't tell me nothing again, you've been hiding something from me all summer."

Percy winced and pulled away from will, "I…I'll explain later. I need to…. I'll be back in a little bit." He says standing again, he does his best to ignore the looks of everyone as he walks out of the room.

Jason frowns watching how unsteady he is on his feet he walks out of the room, "I'm going to go with him, I'll be back soon." He says standing and following Percy out of the room and down the hall.

By the time that Jason caught up with Percy he was already back in his room and was in the process of toeing off his shoes before laying down in bed. His face what nearly ghost white and his eyes where squinted against the dim light in the room. He glanced at Jason "Can you grab the pill bottle off the top of the dresser?" He asked burying his face in his pillow.

Jason nods and hands him the bottle, " How bad is it? Everyone is worried and I think I saw Will about to follow us."

He groans and takes one of the pills, "It's not too bad, can you go distract them for a little, give me about 30 minutes and I should be fine."

"Yeah but if it doesn't get better don't force yourself to come out and talk. I'll go and see what I can do to keep them busy." he says shutting the lights off and leaving the room.


	9. Chapter 9

AN:Hey y'all, I'm gonna try to write as much as I can before I go back to school in a few weeks But I'm not dogsitting anymore so I'lI have things that I actually have to do. However, as always please read, review, and enjoy.

Chapter 9

Jason headed back innto the meeting room and sat back down in his chair ignoring the looks of everyone around him until he was seated.

As soon as he had sat down Thalia slipped into the seat next to him. "Where is he?" She asked glaring at her younger sibling.

"He is laying down, he just needs to rest for a little bit before you all bombard him with questions."

Will looked like he wanted to go to Percy's room himself and make sure that was the case, but he turned his attention to the other blond. "Fine, we will ask you instead, I want answers. This isn't normal."

"It's not my place to talk about it. He was planning to tell you and he will, but he needs to rest right now before he makes himself worse."

"Fine. Answer what you can. That will hold us over until he can come and talk to us himself and we still get some of our questions answered without you having to say more than you are comfortable with."

Jason sighed a little and nodded knowing that they weree either goinng to ask him or go bug Percy. "Fine."

Will was the first to speak up. "What is wrong with him, is it something that can be healed? How is this going to affect him?"

"It's not something that we can heal. It's a genetic condition that wouldn't have been this bad, but this last year during the war he left it untreated due to the whole thing with Hera switching the two of us and the symptoms got worse."

Thalia frowned. "What symptoms?"

"Honestly, I don't know all of them, I've only known about it for about two weeks now. I found out the day we found out we were leaving."

"Just tell me Jason." She glared at him, sparks fickering across her fingertips as she drummed them on her arm.

"Migraine, loss of balance, numbness, hearing and vision problems, insomnia."

Will frowned trying to narrow down what it was from the list of symptoms. "What is he doing to manage it?"

"I'm not going to answer that. That is between him and his doctors, if he chooses to tell you then that is up to him." He says firmly not willing to discuss too much into this without Percy present.

Piper frowned, "Annabeth knows doesn't she? That's why she has been acting weird and why she didin't come with us this morning?" She asked only getting a nod in return causing her face to pale a little. "Jason, how bad is it? I mean it drove Annabeth away from him."

He sighs, "It's not great. The last two weeks have proved that, but he knows how to manage that. the doctors gave him the all clear to come with us. They don't know the specifics of what we are doing but they knew enough to make a decision." He looks up from where he had been looking at the table to look at all of them. "He is still Percy, nothing has changed. If you treat him like it has then you are going to finndd yourself in the same boat as Annabeth."

It was Nico who broke the silence that had fallen over the room. "How can you say nothing has changed? We all just saw him stumbling down the hall. The wall was the only thing keeping him on his feet." He took a deep breath."I… I'm going to checck on him. I can't just sit here and talk about this like we are planning what to have for dinner." He said standing up from his seat. He didn't know where this protectiveness over the Sea Prince had come from but he wasn't opposed to it.

Jason nearly jumped out of his seat when his phone buzzed.

Percy: How is it going?

He shook his head and texted back.

Jason: Not too bad, they are worried about you. You shouldn't be looking at your phone while you have a headache.

Percy didn't text back and Jason smirked a little. He looked up at the rest of the demigods to see them all staring at him, even Nco who was standing in the doorway to the meeting room. "What?"

"How is he?" Leo asked, his hands fidgeting with something he had pulled from his pockets.

"Guys he is fine, it's just a migraine." He says firmly running his hand through his hair, a habbit he had picked up from spending so much time with Percy these last few weeks.

Nico sighed and turned and continued down the hallway. He stopped in front of Percy's door and hesitated seeing it clossed tightly. He raised a hand to knock but paused as he heard a noise from inside the room, "Percy, you okay?"

He waited a second for an answer but heard the noise again, recognising it this time for the sound of someone throwing up he pushed the door open and stepped into the room. "Percy?" he asked as he looked around the room, the lights were off and the blankets were stretched halfway across the floor from the bed towards the en suite bathroom where the door was cracked open but the light was stilll off. He frowned hearing Percy vomit yet again from the bathroom and made his way through the door.

Percy was sitting on he floor with his back to the wall next to the toilet, his hair was plastered to his head with sweat and his face what nearly as pale and Nico's own. "Damn Perce," he said kneeling down next to the demigod.

His frown only deepened when Percy flinched as he spoke. "Shh, please. It hurts." He mumbles, only to lean forward and throw up again into the toilet, once he was done he sagged back against the wall.

"Let me help you back to bed." Nico said flushing the toilet and pulling Percy to his feet. He frowned a little at how unsteady Percy was as they walked, or rather stumbled, back to the bed. Once he was laying down Nico sighed. "I'm gonna text Jason. I don't know what to do." He said more for himself that Percy who looked like he was almost asleep already.

Nico: Can you come to Percy's room? I came in and he was throwing up and I'm not sure what to do.

Jason frowned as he read the message. "Hey Will, Can you come with me real quick?" He asks standing up and starting down the hall when he recieves a nod from the son of Apollo.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Hey guys, so I know I haven't been all that active lately with writing and posting and part of that is due to health concerns that have pushed me to drop out of college and to change my career plan. However, on a brighter note, I now have a method available to me that I didn't have before, and that is my amazing medical alert service dog in training. His name is Bear; he is a 9-month-old lab/pit mix puppy. I've had him for about 6 months now and at college with me for the last month. Despite his age he is already such a huge help and has made my life a lot easier and safer. But enough about me, none of you are here to listen to me rant. As always you know the disclaimer drill, so I won't bore you with the words you know by heart. Please, read, review and enjoy.

Jason and Will stepped into Percy's room a worried expression crossing both their faces. Jason looked around the room briefly before his gaze settled on Percy huddled into the bed. He walked over quickly and shook him awake careful to pull the trashcan close to the edge of the bed just in case he woke up and needed to throw up.

Will was at Percy's side in an instant, checking him for a fever. He relaxed momentarily when he didn't feel one and shifted to checking his pulse. His eyes went wide after a second. "We need to get him to the infirmary." He said worriedly.

Jason sighed noticing what Will was doing. "If you are concerned about his heart rate don't be. It's normal." He said shaking Percy again. "Come on Perce, wake up. I need to know what you've taken already.

Percy woke up slowly groaning in pain. "Turn the lights off, please." He said, his voice raspy from throwing up. He kept his eyes closed until Nico had flicked the switch to turn the lights off. He opened his eyes slowly and frowned a bit. "What are you all doing in here?" He asked

Jason sighed. "Nico found you throwing up and text me. I brought Will incase you needed more help than I knew how to give. What have you taken already?" He asked as he pulled open the drawer next to the bed that held the dozen or so pill bottles.

Will frowned seeing all the pills. "What are all of these for?" He asked as he picked up a bottle reading over the dosage instructions and the name.

Percy sighed a bit and forced himself up into a sitting position his face getting even paler, if that was at all possible as a wave of dizziness hit him. He bent over the trashcan dry heaving as his stomach was empty. "Ugh, this fucking sucks," He muttered wiping his mouth.

Jason gently braced his shoulders so he wouldn't fall over. "What did you take Percy?" he asked again keeping his voice low.

Percy groaned leaning against Jason's side. "The usual. Naproxen, Zofran, and Toradol. None of it is helping." He muttered miserably, he honestly just wanted to sleep for a while in the hopes that the pain wouldn't be so bad in his sleep.

Will frowned. "Jason, I need answers now. What is all this for?" he asked putting the bottles back after having written all the names and dosages down.

"He has Chiari malformation, type 2. It's gotten worse due to not being managed for the last year."

Will frowned. "These are the type of things that I need to know about beforehand not as they become a problem." He said moving to sit beside Percy on the bed. He carefully began feeling along his neck and spine frowning more as Percy flinched away from his touch. "Hold still and let me check." He said quietly.

Nico stood back against the wall and listened to the back and forth between the two blonds as he watched Percy get more and more listless after each bout of dry heaving. He frowned and watched as Will frowned as he checked on Percy's neck, or whatever he was doing.

Percy bit his lip in an attempt to sit still as Will felt along his spine. "Will, stop. It hurts." He managed to get out despite his clenched jaw.

Will nodded a bit and withdrew his hands. "You need to go down to the infirmary Percy. The pressure is building up around your neck." He said a worried tone slipping into his voice.

Jason frowned a bit holding Percy up. "What does that mean? How bad is it?" He asked looking up at Will. "What can we do?"

Will glanced between Percy and the other two people in the room, a frown on his face. "It's really not good. We need to get the pressure under control, or it can cause more problems and damage more nerves."

Percy nodded a bit and began to sit up, his face getting paler, if that was at all possible. "I hate this" He mumbled looking down. "You know what you are doing right?" He asked as he rubbed at his temples hoping to get the room to stop spinning for a few minutes so that he could function. "I really need you to tell me that you know what you are doing." He said taking a few deep breaths to stave off a panic attack.

Will nodded. "Yeah I know what to do." He looked over at Jason and Nico, "Help him down to the infirmary. I'm going to go and get things set up." He said standing up and heading towards the door. "I'll make sure on one is in the hallway, he can explain things to everyone later on." he said shutting the door behind him as he stepped into the hallway. He sighed and turned around running a hand through his hair as he made his way back to the meeting room. He frowned when he walked in seeing all the other demigods watching the doorway anxiously. "Hey, I know you all were promised answers, but Percy can't give them to you right now. I need to take him down to the infirmary to take care of some stuff. When he is ready then I will have him tell you guys."

A few of them looked even more worried at that statement though only Thalia spoke up. "Will what is going on?"She asked, a worried expression on her face and in her voice. "You know what, I'm coming with you." She said standing up from her seat. "Let's go."

Will frowned a bit more. "Thalia, I don't think that you should come. I think Percy is going to want some privacy." He said. He raised his arm to block the door and her exit along with it.

Thalia frowned. "If Percy wants me to leave then he can tell me himself." She said stopping in front of him. "Now move so I can go check on the Seaweed Brain," when she received only a negative shake in response from the son of Apollo, she raised her hand sparks of electricity dancing between her fingers. "Move or I will make you."

Will shook his head again, "Thalia, don't you da….," he said warningly only to cut off with a sharp pained yelp as Thalia pressed her hand to his chest. "Ow!" He yelled glaring at her.

Reyna stood up. "Thalia, I know you want to make sure that Percy is okay, but shocking the only healer on the ship is certainly not going to help." She said frowning.

Thalia sighed and looked back at the rest of them around the table. "I've got a bad feeling about all this." She said as she walked back to the table and dropped into her seat. "Sorry Will. Let me know when I can go see him." She mumbled sitting back down in her chair.

Will nodded and turned on his heels walking down the hall towards the infirmary, his hand rubbing at the center of his chest. Once down in the infirmary he took a breath and set about preparing a bed and pulling out the things he thought he would need. He had almost ten minutes in the infirmary by himself before he heard the door open up and saw Jason and Nico guiding Percy into the room, one of them on either side of the son of Poseidon.

Jason looked up at Will and frowned. "We would have been down sooner but he ended up throwing up again and we had to wait for it to pass. Where do you want him?"

He pointed to a bed in the back of the room. "Lay him down there, I've almost got everything ready." he said as he pushed a stand on wheels around the room piling it up with vials of medication and medical equipment, suddenly thankful that he had taken some online classes in mortal medicine and that he had thought to ask Hephestus to make sure they had access to it for emergencies.

Percy barely glanced up at Will as the other two demigods walked him over to the bed and laid him down. He laid flat on his back pulling the pillow over his eyes. "Will, do me a favor and hurry up. I really just want to sleep." he mumbled, the words muffled through the pillow over his face.

Will nodded a bit despite Percy not being able to see him. "I'm coming. I want to start an I.V. line to get you re-hydrated while I do this." He said as he sat down next to the bed on one of the rolling stools. When he received a nod from the barely conscious demigod on the bed he took ahold of his arm and put in the line and hung a bag of saline and added in some painkillers. "I need you to roll onto your side for me Perce." He said keeping his voice quiet. He glanced back at Nico and Jason who were standing back out of the way, watching the two of them silently. "You two may not want to watch this." He warned pushing Percy's shirt up a bit to expose his back making him shudder at the cold air in the infirmary.

Jason shook his head, "I'm fine. I've been at all his appointments for the last few weeks and I'm not going to leave now." he said sitting one of the other beds within Percy's line of sight from where he was peeking out from under the pillow. "Focus on me." He said softly.

Nico stayed where he was watching both Jason as well as what Will was doing. "What exactly are you going to do? You never told us."

Will sighed pulling on a pair of gloves and lifted a syringe off the tray next to him. "It's essentially an adapted version of a lumbar puncture, by accessing the fluid and draining a bit out it will relieve some pressure and will allow the remaining fluid to settle back into a more normal position without compressing his brainstem or spinal column." He looked up at Jason. "Can you move over here and get ready to hold him," he asked. "I don't want him to hurt himself if he pulls away from me."

Percy took a deep breath as Jason moved over to sit on the bed with him. "Will just get on with it." He said doing his best not to tense up, even as Jason put his hands on his shoulder to prepare to hold him.

Will nodded a bit and slip the needle into percy's back numbing the area watching as Percy's breathing hitched. "I'm sorry. I know it hurts." He said. "Just lay there for a minute while it kicks in." He soothed as he removed the needle and tossed it in a sharps container on the tray.

Jason frowned a bit as he looked over the tray that was next to Will. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the large needle on the tray. "Will you can't be serious about putting that in his back." He said worriedly.

Percy spoke up at this, "Jason, I really need you to shut up about it. I'm trying to avoid freaking out as it is and this is not going to help."

"Sorry Perce, I...It's just huge." he muttered.

Will sighed a little bit and nodded. "Trust me I don't want to do this and if i could get away with not doing it I would." He frowned, looking at Percy as he said he was on the verge of panicking. "Percy why would you panic?"

" I have an irrational fear of medical professionals and tight spaces. I have ever since I was a kid, I've gotten a bit better with it as I got older but this kind of thing always sets me off."

"Alright, I'll try to keep it as quick and painless as possible. Wait how often have you had this done?"

"This will be the 4th time that I can remember." He sighed a little. "I'm numb Will just get on with it please." He mumbled sounding miserable.

Will nodded and picked up and picked up the needle off the tray. "Jason hold him." He instructed. "Percy pull your knees up a bit and take a deep breath." He said a bit softer.

Nico frowned seeing the size of the needle that was in Will's hand. "Shit." He mumbled to himself as he watched them.

Will waited until Jason had a firm grip on Percy. As Percy sucked in a breath he pressed the needle into the lower section of Percy's spine. He frowned when he hit a bit of resistance. "Percy hold still for me." He reminded before pushing the needle in the rest of the way and pulled out the center stopper. He held a vial under the exposed end of the needle and collected the fluid that came dripping out.

Percy was taking slow shallow breaths doing his best to ho;d off the panic at the idea of the large needle sticking out of his back. "Will, how much longer?" He asked after a minute or two.

"I think this is enough, take another deep breath for me so I can pull this out." he said closing up the vial and setting it aside before putting his hand on Percy's side. When he felt the inhale he slid the needle slowly out and disposed of it.

Percy hissed a bit as it was pulled out. "Thanks." he mumbled waiting until Will had taped a piece of gauze over the area and let go of his side to roll onto his back.

Nico and jason both looked a little paler after the experience and jason moved back to the other cot running a hand through his hair as Nico sank down onto another free bed. Will glanced at the two of them before cleaning up the area. "Remember stay on your back for the next few hours. I'm going to keep you down her probably until tomorrow just to be safe. I'll give you a bit of ambrosia to help heal things up a little."

Percy nodded and pulled the pillow over his head again. "Thanks Will, Can you take these two with you and shut off the light. I think I need to sleep." He said tiredly.

Will nodded back, "Yeah sure. I'll come down and check on you in a little. Though I think Thalia might be down sooner." he warned.

"That's fine. Just send her down when you all go up so I can get this over with." He said yawning and closing his eyes.

Will nodded and gently pulled both Nico and Jason back to their feet and out of the infirmary as Percy began to fall asleep. "Come on you two. Try to wipe the worried looks off your face. He will be fine now."


End file.
